->''"Some of those that work forces''\\''Are the same that burn crosses''\\''Some of those that burn crosses''\\''Are the same that hold office"''-->-- "Killing in the Name", from their self-titled debut [[note]] The last line is an ad-lib Zack occasionally sings live instead of repeating the second line, as he does in the recorded version. [[/note]]

'''Rage Against the Machine''' was a RapMetal / FunkMetal band from Los Angeles, formed in 1991.

The band was on hiatus from 2000 to 2007, during which time the band members sans singer Zack de la Rocha formed the band Music/{{Audioslave}} with Music/{{Soundgarden}} vocalist Chris Cornell. Audioslave disbanded in 2007, and RATM reunited for a show in Coachella festival, and have since toured to some extent.

The band was well known for the political activism in their songs, and the liner notes usually include contact information to various organizations the band supports. They have also played at large protests, and have several cases of controversial moments: when playing on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' (in an episode hosted by buttoned-down Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes), they displayed the American flag upside down, until stagehands came and pulled them down. Also, when playing "Killing in the Name" at the infamous Woodstock '99, they burned the American flag onstage.

In 2016, they announced a new album to protest the presidential election of Creator/DonaldTrump.----

* AbusiveParents: Zack de la Rocha, after his father's mental breakdown. The latter is referenced in "Born of a Broken Man", off of ''The Battle of Los Angeles''.* AlternativeMetal* {{Angrish}}: The language most songs are performed in.* AudienceParticipationSong: Arguably "Killing in the Name".* AuthorTract: The liner notes. Zack de la Rocha's lyrics.* BadassBeard: Zack de la Rocha.* BaldOfAwesome: Tom Morello.* TheBandMinusTheFace: Music/{{Audioslave}}. Kind of.* BigWordShout: '''"FREE-DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!"'''* BigYes: Zack lets out an awesome, raspy ''"YEEEEEEEAAAAHHHH!"'' twice in "Sleep Now in the Fire"; once around the start, and again before the guitar solo.* BrokenRecord: "Killing in the Name", as detailed below.** Also "Know Your Enemy", which ends with eight instances of "All of which are American dreams!"* CarefulWithThatAxe: Even Zack takes it down a notch ''once'' in a while, but rest assured he'll be barking at you again very shortly.* ClusterFBomb: "Killing in the Name": ''Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me'' x 16 (first 4 murmuring, next 4 in a crescendo, and the last 8 shouting out loud).-->'''''[[AtomicFBomb MOTHERFUCKER]]!'''''* ConspiracyTheorist: The "machine" you should be raging against. They do specifically refer to the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X.* CoolOldLady: Tom Morello's mother. She's basically the anti-Tipper Gore, starting an organization called "Parents for Rock and Rap". One of the band's live [=DVDs=] even features her introducing her son's band as "the best band in the fucking universe"!* CoverVersion: An entire album of them. ''Renegades'' is a collection of covers. They have also covered [[Music/{{NWA}} "Fuck tha Police"]], [[Music/PublicEnemy "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos"]] and [[Music/BruceSpringsteen "The Ghost of Tom Joad"]] (the latter of which is in ''Renegades'', and for which, incidentally, Morello guested when Springsteen re-recorded it in ''High Hopes''). At live shows they sometimes play "White Riot" by Music/TheClash.* CursedWithAwesome: One of the reasons that their music is so good is because of how seriously they take it, and how seriously they took their music was one of the things that caused their breakup.* DarkerAndEdgier: The band's cover of Music/{{Devo}}'s "Beautiful World" takes a song that, although light-hearted musically, is quite dark lyrically, and makes its tone even darker, with a vastly-simplified and toned-down musical arrangement.* FunkMetal: TropeCodifier.* HotBlooded: They are a very, very passionate band.* IsntItIronic: "No Shelter" was used on the Godzilla soundtrack because Sony noticed that they mention the great lizard by name. What Sony failed to notice is that they call it "pure motherfucking filler" (''immediately'' after mentioning Godzilla, no less!) and that the whole song was about slick American advertising disguising real suffering. Furthermore, "No Shelter" has the line "Make you think what you need is what they sellin' / Make you think that buyin' is rebellin'"** Also, in the 2009 U.K Xmas No.1 race, when Rage's "Killing In The Name" went up against ''The X Factor'''s Joe's, "The Climb", there was quite a bit of {{irony}} as there was a successful Internet campaign instructing anti-''X Factor'' fans to buy the song. In addition to the above anti-consumerism lyric from "No Shelter", "Killing in the Name" clearly has the lyrics, "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!"** In addition, Rush Limbaugh played "Sleep Now in the Fire" on his radio show once. Tom Morello was not pleased.** Paul Ryan, the 2012 Republican candidate for Vice President, [[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/13/us/politics/family-faith-and-politics-describe-life-of-paul-ryan.html claimed]] that Rage was one of his favorite bands. [[http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/tom-morello-paul-ryan-is-the-embodiment-of-the-machine-our-music-rages-against-20120816 This also displeased Tom Morello]].* IvyLeagueForEveryone: Tom Morello is a Harvard graduate with a Political Science degree.* IWasYoungAndNeededTheMoney: Tom Morello once supported himself by dancing exotically.* TheKlan: In addition to the famous reference in "Killing in the Name", there's a reference to a "white-hooded judge" in "Calm Like a Bomb".* LaResistance: Many songs were dedicated to various leftist guerrilla groups in Latin America, most notably EZLN, aka. the Zapatistas, whose red-star-on-black-background logo can be found on the arm of Zack in the article image.* LoudnessWar: ''Renegades'' is turned up so loud it audibly distorts through most of the record.* MaleFrontalNudity: (In)famously at Lollapalooza to protest the [[MoralGuardians PMRC]].* TheManIsStickingItToTheMan: An anti-corporate band signed to Epic Records. Tom Morello once justified this by likening it to Noam Chomsky selling his books through Barnes and Noble.* MetalScream: When Zack de la Rocha isn't rapping. Generally happens towards the end of songs, when a single line is repeated over and over again. Examples, aside from "Killing in the Name", include "Wake Up", "Freedom", "Down Rodeo" and "Bullet in the Head".* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: 6-7* NotTheIntendedUse: Tom Morello's claim to fame as a guitar player is in how he occasionally elicits very unexpected sounds from his electric guitars; most famously the turntable-like sounds on "Bulls on Parade", which he does by rubbing the strings with one hand and alternating turned-up and muted pickups with the other. The instrumental on "Testify" has him using the ''amplifier jack'' and hitting the guitar bridge with it!* PoliticalRap: Zack De La Rocha's rapping.* PerformanceVideo: Several include snippets, but "Sleep Now in the Fire" deserves an honorary mention, with the band playing on the steps of Federal Hall. Without a permit. It's directed by Creator/MichaelMoore.* ProtestSong: The whole discography, to varying degrees of specificity.* RapMetal[=/=]RapRock[=/=]PunkRap: TropeCodifier alongside Music/{{Anthrax}}.* SanitySlippageSong: Possibly "Settle for Nothing", judging by the lyrics. "Born of a Broken Man" is also based on Zack's father's SanitySlippage.* ShoutOut: Several, perhaps most obviously to Creator/GeorgeOrwell. "Testify", for example, lifts the famous quote "Who controls the past now controls the future; who controls the present now controls the past" from ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''.* SpellingSong: "Know Your Enemy", "Mic Check". Also arguably "Microphone Fiend", however this is a cover song so it doesn't truly count.* SpokenWordInMusic: "Settle for Nothing", "Born of a Broken Man". "Wake Up" also has a spoken-word bridge, where Zack explains the FBI's COINTELPRO conspiracy. The words dissolve into nigh-incomprehensibility before the guitars suddenly turn up again and Zack starts screaming "WAKE UP!!!"* SubduedSection: In a couple of songs.* TitleOnlyChorus: "Know Your Enemy". Although most of the chorus is taken up by Morello's admittedly awesome riff, the actual vocal bits just consist of the one line from de la Rocha, which is of course...* TitledAfterTheSong: "Rage Against the Machine" was the name of a song (and EP) by Zack de la Rocha's previous band, the punk outfit Inside Out.* TropeNamer: Rage Against The X is a popular trope name on this wiki.* UncommonTime: One of the riffs from "Year of tha Boomerang" is in 5/4.----